Silverbacks - Easy Being A Winner

 As a band, Ireland 6 piece Silverbacks are restless, eager to move onto the next thing: 3 albums in 4 years is evidence of this. That their fizzing, rock-addled songs rarely pass the 4 minute mark is further proof. But in their personal lives, they’re not restless. In fact, they’re settling down. Lead singer and guitarist Daniel O’Kelly now lives on the outskirts of Paris with his wife. His brother, guitarist Kilian, has moved to Drogheda, an hour north of Dublin, with wife and fellow Silverback Emma Hanlon, where they’ve discovered a newfound interest in plants.  They’re content. Their relationships - their friendships - take the pressure off the music and ultimately allows for something that is more enjoyable to make, and perhaps, as a result, sounds more authentically like Silverbacks too. As they sing on the closing track of third album Easy Being a Winner: “You start to figure it out.”

 Silverbacks figured some things out on their debut album Fad, released as the Covid pandemic had shut almost everything down in summer 2020. The follow-up, Archive Material, was recorded and mixed while navigating the lockdowns. As a result, the way they had to record and produce it put the band under more pressure than they would have liked. The plan for album number 3 was simple enough: Record with a much more relaxed schedule in mind. And they did. Silverbacks also welcomed a new member to the band during the recording, Paul Leamy. He brought fresh energy, fresh ideas, and, as he played bass, it freed up a lot of room for Emma on vocals. The results are sumptuous, with gorgeous coos interweaving across ‘Giving Away an Inch Of’ and ‘Hide Away’

The spiky ‘Something I Know’ features clarinet parts performed by Daniel and Kilian’s dad, John. “We always wanted to get him on a Silverbacks record,” explains Daniel. “Dad also recites a few words I had prepared for him at the end of the track. It’s a small poem I wrote called the ‘Desert’s Door’.

 As with Fad and Archive Material, Silverbacks recorded Easy Being a Winner with Daniel Fox (Gilla Band) in Sonic Studios in Stoneybatter, Dublin. Daniel O’Kelly is quick to praise his younger brother. “My favourite parts of the studio sessions are when we record Kilian on the guitar or piano. It’s a real joy just watching him play and effortlessly transpose the melodies in his head onto an instrument.”Peadar Kearney is the other guitarist in Silverbacks and is key to defining the sound of the opening track and lead single off Easy Being a Winner, ‘Selling Shovels’. Getting guitar feedback like that heard in the bridges and outro is an art-form that Peadar has mastered. The band’s twin/triple-threat guitarmony runs through these 11 songs, from the Cory Hanson-influenced noodles of ‘Look At All You’ve Done’ to the swells of ‘Billion Star Night Light’.

 Some 7 years into Silverbacks, they say definitively that this is what they sound like. What they want to sound like. “A lot of the songs are new, but the album reminds me of the times Kilian and I spent in the garage as teenagers writing songs together and imagining what our band could achieve,” says Daniel. “It reminds me of the first few gigs we played with Peadar and Emma in Maynooth.

 Now that Easy Being a Winner is coming out, I feel I can more confidently say who we are. We’re indie rock. And this album sounds even more like the indie rock I imagined for our band all those years ago.” It’s no surprise, then, that the likes of My Bloody Valentine and Guided by Voices are mentioned as influences. They also love Stereolab, a key touchstone for the aforementioned ‘Something I Know’. Cult Irish band Rollerskate Skinny, indie legends Yo La Tengo, and Mercury Rev are all cited, as is an interesting name: Nick Cave. Daniel says he took some lyrical inspiration from his engagement with religion and imagery.

Paris is, of course, another big presence in Daniel’s lyrics. ‘No Rivers Around Here’ is about trying to fit into a neighbourhood, and feeling torn about the changes that are likely to happen to the area in the coming years. Elsewhere lie references to what he saw from his window on Gare du Nord, where he lived opposite a sex shop. Penultimate track ‘Songs About Divide’ is the most mellow of the collection, a bittersweet song about loneliness and lacking a sense of belonging to any one place. It takes confidence to admit such feelings. In Easy Being a Winner, Silverbacks have made their best album yet.